Marty Bystrom's career probably didn't quite turn out the way he hoped---he never pitched more than 100 innings for a team in any one season, and retired with a mediocre 29-26 record and 4.26 career ERA. In fact, the sum total of his Wikipedia entry reads as this: "Martin Eugene Bystrom (July 26, 1958 in Coral Gables, Florida), is a former professional baseball player who played pitcher in the Major Leagues from 1980-1985. He played for the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees." But while Bystrom is forgotten by a good many, he will never be be forgotten by Philadelphia fans who saw what he did from September 10th, 1980 until the end of the season--where his 5-0 record and 1.50 ERA as a rookie was the differnece between the Phils playing for the World Series and them enduring another season-end of frustration and heartbreak.
Bystrom's start that September 10th was his very first in the majors after getting called up earlier that month and pitching a scoreless inning of relief three days earlier. A game out of first and facing the Mets, Bystrom was simply magnificent, striking out five, allowing only five hits, and going the distance without allowing a single run. The Phils made things easy for Bystrom by scoring three in the first, on base hits by Bake McBride, Greg Luzinski and Gary Maddox and tacked on two more over the course of the game. Final Score: Phils 5, Mets 0.
Bystrom started four more games before the season ended and won every one of them. Bystrom wasn't quite as dynamite in the playoffs, getting no decisions in both his efforts, But the Phils won both games he start, on the way to winning their first World Series in franchise history--a feat that simply would not have been possible without his late-season contributions. Bystrom just couldn't stay on the mound long enough after that, and in 1984, after only making 64 starts in nearly five seasons with the team, he was traded as part of a deal for starter Shawn Rawley.
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